a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Are you learning Koine Greek, the Greek of the New Testament and most other post-classical Greek texts? Whatever your level, use this forum to discuss all things Koine, Biblical or otherwise, including grammar, textbook talk, difficult passages, and more.
Post Reply
C. S. Bartholomew
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1259
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:03 pm

a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Post by C. S. Bartholomew »

I searched in vain through my library and on-line for a comprehensive treatment of textual variants caused by confusion of vowels and consonants. All I could come up with is bits and pieces of such a list. Isolated fragments mined out of ancient grammars making reference to long time gone famous NT scholars.

What I am envisioning is a table showing all the kinds of "errors" which crop up in manuscripts due to sounds that are very similar or easily confused. I am not concerned about why the errors occurred, just looking for the patterns which show up frequently in the first five centuries of NT manuscripts.
C. Stirling Bartholomew

uberdwayne
Textkit Fan
Posts: 266
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:29 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Post by uberdwayne »

I have no comprehensive list of these, and I've done little work with the manuscripts themselves, but here are a few things I've noticed while looking at the apparatus in my GNT

ο is often variant with ω and vice versa

and

"υμεις" is often variant with "ημεις" and vice versa (form doesn't seem to matter)
μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ

C. S. Bartholomew
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1259
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:03 pm

Re: a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Post by C. S. Bartholomew »

uberdwayne wrote:I have no comprehensive list of these, and I've done little work with the manuscripts themselves, but here are a few things I've noticed while looking at the apparatus in my GNT

ο is often variant with ω and vice versa

and

"υμεις" is often variant with "ημεις" and vice versa (form doesn't seem to matter)
Yes those vowels are often exchanged but also there are consonants. I am having difficulty finding exhaustive discussions of the consonants in all the standard NT grammars BDF, ATR, MHT.
C. Stirling Bartholomew

uberdwayne
Textkit Fan
Posts: 266
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:29 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Post by uberdwayne »

spellings of names such as δαυιδ vs δαβιδ Ματθαιον vs Μαθθαιον. Often double consenants get reduced to single consonants, but I can't think of any examples of that, I know I ran into a few in the first couple of champters in Mark.
μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ

C. S. Bartholomew
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1259
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:03 pm

Re: a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Post by C. S. Bartholomew »

uberdwayne wrote:spellings of names such as δαυιδ vs δαβιδ Ματθαιον vs Μαθθαιον. Often double consenants get reduced to single consonants, but I can't think of any examples of that, I know I ran into a few in the first couple of champters in Mark.
Blass—Debrunner-Funk starting on page 7 has a very wordy difficult to read treatment of this stuff which goes on for 15-20 pages. Most everything is eventually discussed. Bruce M. Metzger forty years ago cited this is the source for English readers. That is the problem with most my library. It is old. With the exception of text linguistics most of my reference works are written for and by previous generations. Who sits down these days and reads 25 pages of Blass—Debrunner-Funk to get answer to a question?

A table would be nice. Quick reference.
C. Stirling Bartholomew

uberdwayne
Textkit Fan
Posts: 266
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:29 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Post by uberdwayne »

If your willing to go through an apparatus, Wilbur Pickering has a GNT (base text is Kr) with an apparatus with 6 or 7 published editions as well as a number of Uncials. It is available for download here: http://www.walkinhiscommandments.com/pickering2.htm. Its not completely exhaustive, but it might give you a good idea of what you are looking for.
μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ

C. S. Bartholomew
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1259
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:03 pm

Re: a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Post by C. S. Bartholomew »

uberdwayne wrote:If your willing to go through an apparatus, Wilbur Pickering has a GNT (base text is Kr) with an apparatus with 6 or 7 published editions as well as a number of Uncials. It is available for download here: http://www.walkinhiscommandments.com/pickering2.htm. Its not completely exhaustive, but it might give you a good idea of what you are looking for.

I had somehow forgotten about Wilbur Pickering. I have Hodges-Farstad and Robinson-Pierpont in hard copy. I'll do some browsing in Pickering.

thanks.

postscript:

I have all the information I need on hand but finding it is tedious. I have look in at about five grammars to get a comprehensive treatment of the subject. H.W. Smyth has some tables but they are just small ones for specific variations. BDF, ATR, Moulton, ... these guys are not fun to read. Some pragmatist from DTS must have put together a table of these things. Texas is a culture where pragmatism grows like moss in Seattle.
C. Stirling Bartholomew

uberdwayne
Textkit Fan
Posts: 266
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:29 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: a master list of vowel and consonant variants

Post by uberdwayne »

Would you mind sharing the information when you complete it?
μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ

Post Reply